I Tried to List the Top Ten Books I Read in 2016, But…

…I apparently read a lot of outstanding books over the course of the year and simply could not pick a top ten list! More than twenty of the 56 that Goodreads tells me I read (my goal was 50,) I gave a rating of five stars to. And choosing which ones stayed with me the most between them was frankly impossible. So instead, I’ve decided to show you the summary from Goodreads, and cover a few significant highlights. Among them:

Reading challenges and book clubs are a great way to expand your horizons. Because we’re all monkeys, we read more if we offer ourselves little (meaningless, personal) rewards for doing so. And if our challenges are well-chosen, we read things we otherwise would never have read, often discovering brilliant work in the process.

Margaret Atwood is one of the best writers I’ve ever read. Her science fiction is amazingly well written. I’m glad she finally admitted that it’s science fiction.

Every space opera that has ever existed owes its existence to Joseph Conrad, C.S. Forester, or Patrick O’Brian. Everyone who has ever loved a space opera should read Patrick O’Brian. And David Weber wants to be Patrick O’Brian when he grows up.

C.J. Cherryh, Andre Norton, and Anne McCaffrey are the forgotten triumvirate of Queens of Speculative Fiction. Nobody born after 1990 has a clue who Anne McCaffrey is; no one born after 1980 knows who Andre Norton is; and no one I know (except my partner, who is, if anything, more of a sci-fi nerd than I am) has a clue who C.J. Cherryh is. Listen; you guys are missing out! All three of these women are SFWA Grand Masters of Science Fiction, and only C.J. Cherryh is still with us, and you can’t find her books anywhere. Why aren’t they all in upteenthousandth printing by now?

WHY IN THE ACTUAL FUCK has nobody read Alfred Bester? Listen; this man left us exactly two (brilliantly written, action-packed, page-turning) novels, and they’re amazing. Not only that, but I can trace the roots of just about every science fiction movie that wasn’t a space opera that has ever been made to those two books. Maybe if Hollywood had a look at Bester’s work, they would get over their obsession with Philip K.’s . . . Dick.

Published by Sable Aradia

I'm a Pagan and speculative fiction author, a professional blogger, and a musician. I'm proudly Canadian and proudly LGBTQ. My politics are decidedly left and if you ask for my opinion, expect an honest answer. I am owned by a cat. I used to work part time at a bookstore and I love to read, especially about faith, philosophy, science, and sci-fi and fantasy.
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